In this article some new directions and hypotheses in psychoneuroimmunology

(PNI) research are outlined. The immune system is undeniably complex, but

mechanisms are now being unraveled that demonstrate two-way traffic with the

brain and so complement already extensive empirical evidence of powerful psychological influences on immunity.1 We review three new sources of evidence that

support the importance of lateralized cortical control, first shown in animal studies, 2,3 and an essential tenet of a controversial theory of handedness and immunity. 4 Here evidence supports involvement of the left hemisphere with

upregulation and the right hemisphere with downregulation of the immune system.

This is in keeping with the specialization of the left hemisphere for both

approach behavior and positive affective expression, and the right hemisphere for withdrawal and negative affect, behavior which itself has opposing influences on immune regulation.5 We examine the influence of stress on the immune system, in

one instance investigating the real life stress of news of impending unemployment and in another the stress of medical school examinations. Consideration is also

given to situations, well characterized in the laboratory, where stress may lead to upregulation as well as downregulation of the immune system. Individual difference predictors are reported in a longitudinal study of HIV infection and of exam

stress in medical students and with regard to the threat of unemployment in the

workplace. Finally, the influence of psychological interventions involving hypnosis on examination stress in students and on oncology patients is reported.

The role and regulation of monoamines in stressClow, A., Hucklebridge, F. and Evans, P. 1998. The role and regulation of monoamines in stress. in: Levi, A., Grauer, E., Ben-Nathan, D. and de Kloet, E.R. (ed.) New frontiers in stress research: modulation of brain function Amsterdam Harwood Academic. pp. 21-31